Leave of Absence & Deferment
Acceptable reasons to defer your scholarship or to receive a leave of absence include, but are not limited to: military service, medical, or church service. Requests must be approved by the appropriate committee. You cannot defer a scholarship or receive a leave of absence and attend any other institution of higher learning.
The leave of absence allows you to return without reapplying or paying any associated reapplication fee. You must notify the admissions and scholarship offices of your return in a timely manner. Contact the Registrar's office to drop courses, if you have registered for the semester you plan to leave. Scholarship deferments and/or leaves of absence may be granted for a maximum of five semesters.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) restricts information from being released or another person conducting business for a student. You may consider giving authorization to transact business for you during your absence. This will allow someone else to assist you with registering for classes, review statements, etc.
Before Departure on Deferment
Mission: You should file your Leave of Absence or Deferment request once you have received your call & know your leave & return dates.
Military: For Military, you will need copies of your active duty order along with the deferment papers filled out.
There is no deadline for submitting a request, however there are deadlines concerning tuition refunds, class grades, and transcript notes that are taken into consideration while processing student's requests.
If your plans change and you need to extend/shorten your request, you can either contact our office by phone 435-586-7735, fax 435-586-7736 or submit another request to finaid@suu.edu . Your request will be reviewed & you will be notified of the decision of the committee.
Before you Return/Upon Arrival Back from Deferment
Parents & Families can help students register & act in the student's behalf after the student have filled out and submitted the FERPA form.
In order to register for classes as a firsttime, fulltime student at SUU, the student must first pay his or her Enrollment Deposit. In many cases, this was paid at the time the student deferred (before the student left on his or her mission/military service). Once the Enrollment Deposit is paid, the student will receive an email from a Student Success Advisor (SSA) and/or Assistant Coach for Excellence and Success (ACES). This email will contain the instructions for registering for classes. In particular, this email will contain the link for the student to complete his or her TBird Takeoff Questionnaire (TTQ). This is an electronic questionnaire. Once completed, this questionnaire will allow the SSA to register the student for classes.
If you need help accessing the TTQ, please contact Ryan Bailey at ryanbailey@suu.edu.
Note: The above process only applies to first time, fulltime freshmen. If the student has previously attended SUU, he/she must register on their own through their portal.
Simply email admissions@suu.edu to let them know that you will not be attending the University.
Federal grants cannot be placed on hold as they are awarded on a yearly basis. You can apply for federal grants again prior to your return from a leave of absence. The time you should apply is dependent upon when you will be returning to SUU. The application for financial aid begins in January for the following academic year, and must be applied for annually. The free online application can be found at fafsa.gov.
This request will not put student loans on hold. In order to defer payments to your student loans during your leave, you will need to contact the loan service provider directly. The contact information can be found at: nslds.ed.gov. UNLESS you have a Perkins Loan. Contact: Amy Blackner at amyblackner@suu.edu or at 435-586-7709.
A Newly Admitted student is a student that has never attended SUU before, but has received an offer of admission.
A Returning Student is a student that has previously attended SUU, has been withdrawn, and has reapplied to continue their education.
A Current Student has an active student status and is currently attending courses at SUU, or has attended in the last 2 semesters. (If you are on a Leave of Absence you are still considered a current student as your status is held.)
If you are newly admitted students at SUU, you must complete the pre-registration checklist with your current student ACE as part of your orientation to SUU. You can find more information on what to do contacting your student ACE or aces@suu.edu .